What did Bobby Lowder and Auburn have that Bama and Bryant don't?

The most vocal defenders of the University of Alabama Board of Trustees have a common refrain.

Why didn't you ever write about Bobby Lowder when he did the same thing at Auburn!

Which is a point. Which, now that you mention it, is the point.

Because in the 350-plus stories we did write about that now-failed banker and former Auburn trustee, it became so painfully clear that a micromanaging cabal of trustees linked by vast webs of business and personal connections is just plain bad medicine for a university.

What Alabama's board of trustees looks like now, Auburn's looked like 10 years ago. Back then, Auburn was placed on probation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, which argued that Lowder exerted too much influence on the board because of trustees' ties to his bank, and he used that influence to micromanage the school and - in his case - the football team.

Five of Auburn's 14 trustees at that time had connections to Lowder's bank. Lowder ran Colonial Bank and two trustees were on the bank's board of directors or an affiliated board. One trustee used the bank for financing and another borrowed money from the bank.

Paul Bryant Jr. and Bobby Lowder

They were no more connected than the UA board is now.

Of 17 current UA trustees, seven have ties to either Bryant Bank or Protective Life Corp. as do two trustee emeriti.

And Lowder thought that gave him a free pass to rule, to coax, to threaten, to impose his will on a public body whose primary role was supposed to be the education of the taxpayers of the great State of Alabama.

In the end Lowder's unrequited love - like some Shakespearian tragedy -- hurt most the one he so adored. With embarrassment. And sanctions. And pain.

It finally prompted then-Gov. Bob Riley to consciously begin the process of appointing new and independent trustees to Auburn's board, people who were not beholden to Lowder. But of course the governor now - Robert Bentley, whose son works for Bryant Bank - could not simply appoint independent trustees to the Alabama board if he wanted to.

Because the UA Board of Trustees nominates its own members. They must be approved by the Senate, but that is almost always a formality. Those with influence at UA now determine those who influence UA in the future.

And that means it is as much a clique and a club as it is a governing body. It means people will inevitably raise an eyebrow when such a silent board dismisses questions about mining at Shepherd's Bend, or about UAB football, or about whatever decision is being made in secret.

It is why current UA trustees should remember Lowder's fall from grace.

When he did decide to step away, his absence was not mourned by many Auburn faithful. His memory, and whatever good he might have done along the way, was tainted by the very power he wielded.

"I have no doubt Bobby Lowder loved, loves Auburn, and he and his family have given much in the way of financial support to the university. But he loved it in a way that was not good for Auburn, in a way that attempted to make the school something he could bend to his will, to his view of what the university should be."

That is Lowder's educational epitaph. They should read it closely in Tuscaloosa.